Temple Treehouse @ Boinga Bob’s Treehouse

Photo: The beautiful Boinga Bob’s Temple Tree-House in Warburton. It’s so quirky and amazing. I mean, look at the Shrek and Scooby-Doo plush toys by the doorjamb!?

Last week, I went on yet another roadtrip to Warburton, a small mountain town about 80km east of the Melbourne CBD. That was the third time I’ve visited the town in less than a month. The first time I visited, it was to visit Mt Donna Buang and Rain-forest Gallery (read the blog about it here). The second time, was to visit the Blue Lotus Waterlily Farm and Upper Yarra Dam (blog post about the Waterlily farm here). The third and most recent time, was to visit the exotic temple like tree-house known as Boinga Bob.

Robert (Bob) Prudhoe is the proud owner and mastermind behind the temple tree-house known as Boinga Bob. Over the years, Bob has transformed his private home into a work of art, attracting locals and passerby’s to stop by and visit. The house is located on Highfield Road, a small road just behind the busy main road of Warburton. Bob’s tree-house was built over the original train master’s house. Just like an evolving piece of artwork, the tree-house is constantly undergoing renovations, with Bob adding more and more parts to it.

Bob’s extensive travels from Hindu Temples, to life in the Himalaya mountains and Tibetan tribes (just to name a few) and his fascination with different cultures formed the basis for building his temple tree-house. Coupling this inspiration with fractal geometry (building art based on nature), I immediately thought the house looked very much like a great big tree with numerous outreaching branches.

From what I read on the web, Bob calls himself an ‘Outsider Artist’. What this means is someone who does not follow the trend, but rather, sets their own artistic trends. I absolutely believe in this way of outward expression. Why follow the pack when you can do things a little different? Just as what Bob did when building his unusual yet beautiful house.

If the outside of the house already catches your eye, the interior won’t disappoint either. Inside, you will find an array of quirky items, hand made designs, and religious symbols scattered on the table, hanging from the window sill, laying on the floor even. Some parts were donated by people who appreciate Bob’s expressive style of art. As we were wandering around, we were ever so fascinated by all the small details. As the famous Gestalt Psychologists say, small parts add up to form the greater whole. That idea highly resonated with me as I wandered around the tree-house.

I felt like I had jumped on a plane to some exotic country like Brazil or the Amazon, blended in with parts of Cambodia and India. Everything about the temple felt so culturally different to what I have seen growing in Australia. I loved it. I loved seeing Bob’s unique take on the world and how he can meshed different cultures into one brilliant piece of artwork. This man is a true mastermind.

Photo: Bob’s decorated his tree house with his own hand drawn paintings.

We found a small room decorated in colorful paintings. I later read on the web that those paintings were done by Bob himself. What an amazing, creative and artistic man he is.

Overall, Boinga Bob’s tree-house is not simply a work of art, it is Bob’s way of expressing his values and his view on life. Fascinating by world travel and world art, one can definitely see that when one walks around Bob’s beautiful temple house.

-Summary-

A must see in Warburton is Boinga Bob’s Temple Tree-house located on Highfield Road, just behind the main road.

Robert (Bob) Prudhoe is the mastermind of this beautiful house

Boinga Bob’s Temple Tree-house was built from Bob’s inspirations from world culture, travel, and fractal geometry.

Everything in the house is hand crafted or donated by people who adores Bob’s art